Page 28 of Net and Chill
“I’m so sorry I ended things like that,” she says softly.
“Yeah.”
“I should have asked you about it.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s just that I heard… Never mind,” she says. “I should wait until tomorrow—this isn’t the right time to talk about it.”
“I’m fine. Look at me.” I’m lying here. Not moving. Being chill. “See how chill I am?”
“I just don’t want it to turn into an intense conversation.”
“I eat intense conversation for…for?”
“For breakfast?” I hear her blow out a little laugh. “Not with me, you don’t.”
“I can. I want to.”
“You sound so tired, Craig. You need to sleep.”
“Thread…”
“What thread?” she asks. “I’ll have my dad bring my tailoring equipment tomorrow.”
“No, the thread. I have the thought. Then I lose the thread. Then I find the thread. I lose the word.”
“I know, sweetie. It’s brain fog from the concussion. That’s why you aren’t supposed to have important conversations right now. Just trying to complete a sentence is taxing on your brain. Please go to sleep. I’ll be right down the hall.”
She called mesweetie.
I like that.
Tell her I like that.
“Stay.”
She sighs. “I’ll sit in that chair while you sleep.”
“No. Here.”
Sighs again. So much sighing. “If I lie in bed with you—over the covers—do you promise you’ll take a nap?
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Good.”
“Do you need anything before I lie down?” she asks. “More water?”
“Can you turn down the train?”
“Oh no. What do you mean?”
“Too loud.” I lift my hand to point at the vent. I think.
“Oh, the air-conditioning. Is it loud for you? I’ll turn up the thermostat.”
